Unexpected
by tentativewriter
Summary: Mikoto and Fugaku were not sure which one of their sons' was the father of the little girl in front of them, they just knew that whoever it was, he was grounded.
1. Prologue

The man showed up in a flash of purple light, there was a split second where he recognized the man in front of him, as the son he had left eating breakfast that morning. He threw that thought to the side, for how could it be Sasuke? He saw recognition flash in the man's eyes, saw the shock, the sadness, but more than anything he saw longing. He watched as the man in the dark cloak opened his mouth to speak only to immediately close it. The man proceeded to look around him, as if processing his location, it was as the man studied his surroundings that Fugaku saw something he probably shouldn't have. Something that should have caused Fugaku to be afraid, to be wary, yet he could not find it in himself to be fear the man before him, even knowing the man possessed the rinnegan.

The more Fugaku stared at the man standing before him the more he could no longer deny who he was. As ridiculous as it was to him, he could see his own features on the man in front of him, with a confidence and a sense of denial, Fugaku broke the silence, "Sasuke you should not be here."

He watched as Sasuke's eyes widened probably surprised that he would recognize him. "You know who I am?"

"You are my son after all." Fugaku proceeded to walk ahead, "come, I know where we can talk in private."

"Father forgive me," Fugaku pretended not to hear the pain in Sasuke's voice as he said _father,_ he ignored the hesitation, as if the word was something he was unaccustomed to using. "I don't have time to go the shrine, my daughter is missing and I could only think of you to help me."

"Sasuke explain."

"I recently found an Uchiha scroll that was hidden and protected by countless genjutsu. I had yet to look at it, my daughter went into my study she was playing with it, and somehow triggered it, she has been missing for two days now. My wife she is looking for any record of the scroll, but she can't find any." Fugaku could hear the desperation in Sasuke's voice, "please, help me find my daughter!"

"The fact the you think you would have to plead!" He couldn't help the anger in his voice, Sasuke seemed relieved though."Where did you find the scroll?"

"About a day's travel from Konoha, in the direction of Suna."

Fugaku paused at his words, something not being right, "well your wife will not find any answers. It is a scroll that belongs to the Uchiha, and only the Uchiha. You said one scroll? There was not another one?"

"There was only one scroll."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke nodded, "that scroll has a twin, without it the only chance of getting her back is with your eye. The scroll is for time travel, useless time travel, it is limited in how far back it can take you and even then it is unpredictable as to when. Sometimes the damn thing doesn't work. Some believed that the older you are, the less far back you can go. Regardless the limit seems to be thirty years." Sasuke looked like he was punched in the face, "it will be difficult to find her, but the good news is wherever she landed the scroll will drop her off, near the closest relative in the vicinity, and by blood."

"So the scroll drops her off by determining the closest blood relative in the equivalent location?"

"Yes, let's say she used the scroll in this exact same spot 20 years from now, and you and I were both one hundred meters from here, the scroll would bring her closer to you than to me. As her father, you are closer by blood, though it would be hard to determine how close she would initially appear." Fugaku studied his son, "she can only appear so far from the initial travel location, if I had to guess, she would have shown up still within the Village."

"Is there a way to determine where she would be?"

"There might be one way, the scrolls like I said are very limited, the current scrolls will not be able to be used since they are in use within thirty years." Fugaku couldn't help but sigh as he added, "little is truly known about the scrolls, but the scrolls are connected, and not just those two, if another pair exists within the time frame, the one that was not used are rumored to display a date." Fugaku recognized the look in his sons face as one of determination, and calculation. Without putting much thought into it, Fugaku summoned a crow, watching Sasuke's surprise, Fugaku explained, "I taught your brother, I only use the crows for messaging your mother though."

"I have a specific hawk for messages to my wife." There was hint of red at his admittance, but a bit of awe in there too.

"Great minds think alike." Then he began writing the message, once he sent the crow on its way, he looked to his son, "let's go." The confusion was evident, "you think are going to go to the scrolls alone?" The silence was all the confirmation Fugaku needed, "don't be foolish. Even with the rinnegan you would not be able to leave the scrolls as I had. I might do something stupid if I discover the traps not as I laid them. However, if you change my memories there instead of now, it will be easier for me to believe that I changed the traps."

"It might be too dangerous, Danzo must already keep a close eye on you."

"He does, but if you think that Danzo would keep me from helping you find _my_ granddaughter, then you will make me doubt you as my son. This of course means we would have to fight."

There was a hint of humor in his tone, one that Sasuke did not miss there was a small on Sasuke's face as he said, "let's go then."

* * *

 **A/N:** _if anybody is reading Beginnings the title and premise should be familiar. While this starts on a more serious note for the most part the rest should stay relatively the same. That said this is a short little story, I should be able to finish this fast, and is mostly for the sake of getting me back into writing. If I do take too long to update this, feel free to check it out in Beginnings it is on chapters 28 and 29... it is not much but you get a feel for what the story should be like and get to decide if it is worth your time or not... however, I do mean short story I don't want this to even reach 5 chapters..._

 _For those waiting on an update on Timely a million and one apologies, I have horrible writer's block but I am hoping this story will help me overcome that._

 _Please let me know any mistakes you find so that I can fix them..._


	2. Chapter 1

The call at the station had made his heart jump to his throat. Mikoto and he had agreement, she would never call him at work unless it was an emergency. When he had asked her on the phone what was wrong, and she refused to tell him he knew it must have been bad. The most she said was, "not on the phone but you need to come home _now_." His imagination instantly going wild, Fugaku asked no more questions, he did not even announce he would be gone, just simply left.

His home had never felt so far, every step felt to small, his home was too far from work was the sudden thought that assaulted his mind. Deciding that running was not fast enough, Fugaku took to the roofs, uncaring of the glares sent his way, or the judgment. It felt like an eternity passed before he stood in front of his home's door, but suddenly he was hesitant to open it. Afraid of what would greet him, it was a mystery to him how his hand did not shake as he finally opened the door.

Fugaku was expecting many horrors upon entering his home; his wife inconsolable, maybe his home turned upside down out of grief, even expected the Hokage there. What he was unprepared for was his wife to look happy. He almost activated his sharingan to make sure it was not genjutsu, "dear, you look so pale. What happened?" Mikoto did not approach him but her eyes were already looking for injuries.

"What's wrong? You called and asked me to come home." Fugaku was surprised at how relieved he felt at the sight before him, it almost made him forget the horrors his imagination had conjured on his way over. _Almost_. "I don't even know what I was expecting to find, I thought we decided that you would never call me at work unless it was an emergency?" He wanted to sound stern, angry, to have some warning tone in his voice, instead his voice sounded relieved even to his own ears.

Mikoto folded her arms to her chest, raised one eyebrow and asked, "who said it wasn't? you know not all emergencies have to be unhappy." Before he had a chance to question her, he heard footsteps that were much too small to be Sasuke's, let alone Itachi's. It was now Fugaku's turn to raise a questioning brow, her face lit up immediately, almost giddy she answered his silent question," when I dropped Sasuke off at the academy, I decided to go for a walk. You know the area by the river?"

Fugaku had an idea of where she meant, still he decided to question her, "there are many areas by the river, be more specific."

"Oh! don't play dumb! You know that area," he simply gave her blank stare, "by where you taught Itachi the fireball jutsu!" He pretended to be enlightened, which did not fool his wife in the slightest, but she choose to ignore him. "Anyway, when I was walking there I found the cutest little girl! So, I brought her home."

Fugaku felt his jaw hit the floor at his wife's nonchalance, "YOU KIDNAPPED SOMEONE!?" Mikoto face scrunched up in distaste of his choice words, "I'll take her to the station, her parents are probably worried sick about her." He pitied that girl's parents if they even felt an ounce of the fear he felt on his way home. "Mikoto this is not like you at all. If you want more children let us talk about it, but _kidnapping_? That's illegal! That poor girl's parents- "

"Are not going to be there." She interrupted before he could continue his rant, before his mind could wander she added, "of course I didn't kill them! What do you take me for?" Taking a deep calming breath, she approached Fugaku, "dear, listen to me. That girl is clearly an Uchiha," Fugaku saw as Mikoto's gaze shifted about the kitchen, then she whispered to him, "and she had scroll."

 _"_ _The scroll?"_ He asked shock etched unto his voice.

"Yes! _The scroll!"_

"Are you absolutely certain it is the scroll?" She rolled her eyed at him but nodded.

He saw her reach into a drawer behind her and pull something out, without preamble placed it on his hands, "see for yourself. At first, I couldn't believe it. But the scroll is exactly as you described it to me all those years ago."

Fugaku activated his sharingan and studied the scroll, opening it carefully he studied the seal inside, the only difference from the last time he had laid his eyes on it, was a new drop of blood, no doubt the girl's. He was in shock, then a sudden realization hit him, the scroll was a secret kept and guarded by the clan head. The only reason Mikoto knew of it was as a precaution. If anything were to happen to him, it would fall unto her to inform Itachi of its existence, "so Itachi is her father?" He hadn't meant to voice his thoughts out loud, but once he did he asked her properly, "is he?"

"I think it might be Sasuke. She said her mother has pink hair, and there is girl in Sasuke's class with pink hair." Then with one of the biggest smile on her face she looked to Fugaku with such wonder that his heart skipped a beat, "it doesn't matter who her father is! She is our granddaughter!" She was giddy as she grabbed unto his arm pulling him in the direction of the footsteps earlier. "Her name is Sarada," Fugaku watched his wife, saw the joy that she could hardly contain, "she is three, almost four. And she is simply beautiful!"

Fugaku let his pull him, too shocked to convey any words, but understanding what his wife meant by not all emergencies being unhappy. Once he stood in the doorway of Sasuke's room and watched her as she used Sasuke's stuffed dinosaur to bring down a tower of blocks he found his voice enough to say, "we are too young to be grandparents."

"Then why are you smiling?" They must have been louder than they intended because Sarada stopped playing and turned around to look at them. He knew then that even without the scroll he would recognize her as one of his own.

Without wasting any time Fugaku approached slowly, aware that this could be a scary situation for any child, "my wife tells me your name is Sarada, it is a lovely name."

Her response was a smile reminiscent of his wife's, "thank you, my mama said my papa picked it out. They thought I was gonna be a boy! Can you believe that!?" She must not have expected an answer because she continued," what's your name?" She gazed up at him expectantly.

"Fugaku," he replied.

Sarada jumped a little in excitement at his response, "just like my grandfather!"

"He must be a very handsome man," Mikoto's words surprised him, he had almost forgotten she was in the room, so in awe of his granddaughter. "Now dear, to send you back home we need to ask you a few questions." Sarada immediately straightened up, face serious she nodded, "the scroll you gave me, has a partner, did you have that too when you grabbed the scroll and showed up here?" Sarada gave some thought to her answer before answering no.

Mikoto looked to Fugaku not surprised to find his gaze on her, their fear evident only to them, it was Fugaku who asked the next question, "was there another scroll near this one?" Again Sarada's answer was no. "Do you remember seeing another scroll that looks like this one?" He asked showing Sarada the scroll.

"No, my papa doesn't let me in his study." Suddenly her eyes teared up, "you aren't going to tell him, right? Papa is going away on a mission, I don't want him to leave angry at me."

"Mikoto leaned down to Sarada's level, "honey, I think your papa knows by now." With more tears threatening to fall she quickly added, "but don't worry we won't let you get in trouble, if anyone is in trouble its him." She held Sarada to her, wondering what it was that they were going to do. Once Sarada had calmed down and began playing with the toys again Mikoto turned to Fugaku, "the moment we figure out which one is her father he is grounded. I know we raised them to be more responsible than that."

Fugaku silently agreed. They were both now sitting on Sasuke's bed, both in silent awe of meeting their granddaughter. However, their amazement was not enough to stop the fear from creeping up on them. Still they could not help but study her, looking to each other when she did something that reminded them of Sasuke, or Itachi, or even each other, small smile gracing their faces each time. Mikoto reached for Fugaku's hand, "at least we were the ones to find her."

Fugaku responded by holding tightly to her hand," she does not have the scroll to send her back, no matter how you look at the situation, this could not be worse."

Without hesitation she countered, "Danzo could have found her."

He almost laughed at how quickly she had that answer. Deciding enough was enough, he stood up, "Sarada," immediately Sarada stopped what she was doing, all attention on Fugaku. Not even his children held so much respect for him, it almost made him doubt she could be either one of his sons' daughter, then again, he didn't know the mother. "Mikoto and I have two sons, and the oldest is at a mission but should be back sometime tonight, and the youngest is at the academy."

Her shoulders slumped slightly, "is it the quiet game?" There was a clear distaste for the game and Mikoto had stifle a giggle, ignoring her Sarada continued, "I don't like the game, mama makes me play it when she has meetings with Hokage-sama. I don't get why I have to play it when Hokage-sama is way louder." Almost as an after-thought she added, "plus I always win, can we play a puzzle game instead?"

"It is not the quiet game, though Mikoto and I are very proud of you for being the champion." Sarada grinned at his words, he explained, "there is just somethings you cannot tell our sons, like your name or your parents name."

Sarada seemed to mull it over for a second, "what do I get when I win?" She said it so smugly that if they had any doubts about her being their granddaughter they would have vanished there and then. The look in her eyes, her smirk, it was all Sasuke.

Fugaku was taken aback by the sight before him, instead it was Mikoto who answered, "anything you want." Once her words registered, Fugaku couldn't help but glare at her, "don't look at me like that, she is three, what harm is there?"

"Excuse me, but I am almost four. My birthday is in March and mama said that's in two months. That makes me," she began counting on her fingers, "three and five-sixths." She was clearly exasperated by having to correct her, moving closer to Fugaku, she whispered, "I've told her so many times!"

Fugaku nodded in understanding, "Mikoto, clearly Sarada is almost four, she should not have to correct you." Mikoto responded by sticking her tongue out at him, Sarada defended Fugaku by doing the same to her. "You are being a negative influence on her." Mikoto once more responded by sticking her tongue out at him, this caused Sarada to giggle.

Once the giggling stopped, there was a sudden shift in Sarada's demeanor, suddenly there were tears in her eyes. Fugaku's eyes went to Mikoto begging her to do something like earlier, he was not surprised to find her already in action. Standing in front of Sarada Mikoto leaned down to her level, "honey, what's wrong?"

With a brittle voice, she answered," you two are nice but… I miss my mama and papa. I want to go home." Sarada's hands were forming fists not doubt trying to hold back her tears.

Hugging Sarada Mikoto told her rubbing Sarada's back she said, "it's okay. It will be okay sweetie. We will get you back to your parents in no time!" Mikoto didn't want to lie to Sarada but telling her the truth was not really an option. Holding Sarada tighter to herself she vowed that whoever was her father was never going to hear the end of this. She was going to torture the boy until the end of her days. Even then, her spirit was going to haunt him.

Fugaku pat Sarada on the head before telling Mikoto, "I will look at the scroll and see if there is something that we can use to send her back. Stay with her."

"I'll go and help you as soon as I can." It took about half an hour but Sarada eventually fell asleep in Mikoto's arms. Carefully she laid her down on Sasuke's bed and went to check on Fugaku. She found him in his study leaning over his desk glaring at the scroll. "No luck?"

"None." He looked up then, hoping to find his granddaughter in a better mood, only to discover her absence, "where is Sarada?"

"She fell asleep, poor girl, she must be tired. I laid her down on Sasuke's bed." She walked towards his desk looking over the scroll herself, "this is really amazing, I can barely follow the seal without the sharingan. Have you tried with your mangekyo?"

"Yes, and nothing. Though I'm not going to lie I wasn't expecting too." He let himself fall down unto his chair, "those boys are going to send me to an early grave."

"Dear, you say that all the time."

"This time I mean it Mikoto. I just don't understand why she only had one scroll."

"She could have dropped it when she arrived." Thinking better of it she added, "then again the way she talks, the way she moves, her mannerisms in general are very adult like. She reminds me of Itachi," Mikoto couldn't help but smile at the comparison, "and he would never drop something like that, or forget about it."

Fugaku sat straighter on his chair struck by an epiphany, "we are forgetting one thing."

"What?"

"That we may know who she is, but she does not know who we are. She could have hidden the scroll in a panic or dropped it and just chosen not to tell us. If her mother is having meetings with the Hokage, and we know one of our sons is for sure the father, we know she will have some very basic training."

Mikoto sighed her energy escaping her with the reality of his words, "you're right. It's what we would have told them to do. I'll look in the area where I found her. I'll go now and pick up Sasuke afterwards."

"No need, I'll pick up Sasuke just tell me anything you can about your morning."

"But _dear,_ I know exactly where I found her, it will be easier for me to go and then pick up Sasuke." There was a warning in her voice, but if his sons were stupidly stubborn, they inherited it from him, something Fugaku would often deny no matter how true it may be.

"Someone needs to stay home, and you are more of the comforting type, what if she wakes up?"

"Well _grandpa_ Fugaku will no doubt figure it out."

"But dear, _grandma_ Mikoto is so much better with kids, you've seen me with our boys! If it wasn't for Itachi being the future clan head, I'm not sure what we would talk about."

"Fugaku." He saw her place her hand on her waist, a clear warning. Instead of giving up, Fugaku chose to give in.

"This is ridiculous, we both clearly want to see who her mother is. However, as you were the one to mention that she is in Sasuke's class, that means you have seen her." The scowl on her face was answer enough as to who was winning, "thus, I will go. Besides Itachi is coming home tonight and he is nice enough not to comment on it, but even Sasuke knows how he feels about my cooking."

"Fine, but only because you can't cook." Even though Mikoto agreed, she was clearly unhappy with the result.

Fugaku couldn't help it his words came out before he could even consider them, "when you pout like that, you look just like her." There was so much warmth in his voice that for a second Mikoto forgot why she was unhappy. "You were right."

"About what?"

"She is beautiful."

* * *

 **A/N:** _so I wish to explain one thing, the prologue is set a few years before Sarada shows up with her grandparents, but technically the Sasuke that shows up, showed up two days after Sarada initially went missing in his time. So its technically in the future, but in the past. Yeah, time travel is weird. If this confuses any readers let me know and I will put label or something in the beginning of the chapter or as the chapter title... though to be honest I'm kind of hoping to not have to label it because it would be a weird label to begin with._

 _This is technically part 1 and 2 of Unexpected as it is in Beginnings (the only parts that exists), so those hoping for more on the story there now, you will not find any. For those who do follow Beginnings, I hope you enjoy what it means to get the "laptop treatment" as opposed to the phone treatment. If you prefer the phone treatment, I will never take down the originals on there, though I should, there are a lot of errors on there. However, Beginnings is there for me to share ideas and give readers a glimpse into stories I am coming up with so that they decide which story I focus on next. So if you do enjoy my writing check out Beginnings so that you get to be part of those that chooses which story gets written next. I choose this story based on the reactions, to it, so reviews really do matter on Beginnings. Plus, you guys will now have the "written on my phone" and the "written on my laptop" comparison so you know there is a difference._

 _Anyway thank you guys! If you guys find any errors please do not be afraid to point them out. Remember I know what I meant to say, my brain fills in the blanks and will continue filling in the blanks for awhile so I will not see any on my own for some time (hopefully I did good and caught most of the errors). Once more thank you :)_


	3. Chapter 2

Before leaving for his unexpected adventure, he and Mikoto sat down to discuss everything they knew about the girl. Trying to figure out how long she had been in the forests, "this is important, did you feel any shift in the air? Any strange chakra this morning?"

"I've told you I don't remember anything standing out. I took Sasuke to his doctor's appointment, then I took him to the academy. Speaking of, and since you haven't asked, his cold is now gone." He gave a slight nod, acknowledging her words, "then I went for a walk. While on my walk I ran into her looking lost and confused."

Pacing in front of her, he asked once again, "nothing in the air? nothing that made you say what is that and stopped you in your tracks?"

"Fugaku I am not some criminal you are interrogating, I am telling you I felt _nothing_. I did not feel anything out of the ordinary, there was no unexpected breeze. No unidentifiable smell no earthquake! Was I even supposed to feel anything amiss?" Her irritation was beginning to show, this Fugaku knew meant he had to tread lightly.

Looking to the ceiling, to hide his complete and utter defeat he answered, "I don't know. It is logical that something would change in the air around where she landed, someone had to have felt it."

"So, we will continue under the assumption that something was disturbed, and someone had to have felt the disturbance? But what if there wasn't a disturbance? I told you I felt nothing, and I walked through a decently large area in the morning." Fugaku watched as Mikoto's eyes lit up in realization, "but we can narrow it down. If she showed up before six in the morning, she would have likely still showed up near the house. You were home, I was home, Sasuke is home, Itachi is not in the village. However, it safe to assume a general direction for all of us."

"And the scroll takes the wielder to its closest relative, within a certain length of distance. Itachi is too far, regardless of if he were Sarada's father, the scroll would have brought her near Sasuke, you, or me since we would still be her closest relatives." He finished for her.

"Wait," defeat evident in her voice, "what if it was taking her to her mother?"

"Did you see anybody with pink hair as you walked around?"

"No."

"Which means her mother was too far away. We need to work under the assumption that the scroll was delivering her to you, Sasuke, or myself. If we find nothing under these circumstances, we will plan around her mother's side of the family."

"Okay," Mikoto considered her morning carefully once more, "she was not near the house, so she showed up sometime after seven am." Mikoto said with a confidence that had him raising an eyebrow in question, "I woke up late which means we left the house at around eight-twenty am."

"She was nowhere near the station based on where you found her, even walking for an hour a four-year-old would not get that far. Which means the closest relative for her was you, or Sasuke."

"Dear, what would the scroll consider closer, an uncle, well possible uncle, let's work under the assumption that both Sasuke and Itachi are uncles of Sarada," he nodded in agreement, "or a grandmother?"

Thinking about it a bit, he decided," genetically speaking probably an uncle." With that in mind they worked with the idea that the scroll would have been following Sasuke, based on where Mikoto found her. Deciding there was not much left to decide Fugaku looked to the clock, he was not about show his excitement, but he realized that if he left within the next five minutes he would be able to catch Sasuke right before his recess ended. _Perfect,_ he thought to himself, he knew the chances of seeing Sarada's mother would be higher during recess than when classes at the academy ended. Without a good-bye, and without looking back at his wife Fugaku left for the academy.

He exited his home as he regularly did, minus the lack of acknowledgement to his wife. It was not until he exited the Uchiha compound that he sped up choosing to take the roofs. Once more uncaring of the glares sent his way, after all, roofs were only to be used for emergencies, not because you are in a hurry. Still his focus was on two things, the first, was seeing his future daughter in law, the other was finding the scroll. He would never admit that that his priorities lay in that exact order, but his curiosity was piqued.

When he neared the academy, he slowed down and looked for a place he could hide. He didn't want his son's attention now, he wanted to see the little girl that would one day be Sarada's mother. He found a tree and placed a small genjutsu to hide his appearance, and he looked around where the kids were playing. He spotted her first, in fact, she was impossible to miss, she was playing with a blonde girl, _no doubt a Yamanaka,_ he mused proud that it was good friendship. The Yamanaka's may not be the strongest fighters, but they were good allies to have on your side. The girl's back was to him, but he knew it had to be her. "Sakura, it's my turn to do your hair!" What a fitting name, he couldn't help but note the lack of creativity in her name however.

Sakura listened, and placed herself in front of the Yamanaka, now his tree was in her line of vision, at the same moment he noticed her eyes ( _Mikoto will love them_ ), she seemed to stiffen. Sakura turned to the girl, he strained himself to hear what she had to say. He was unprepared for what she said, he almost fell of the tree in shock when he heard her say, "Ino, the tree looks different, I don't like it." He was aware that his genjutsu of choice was simple, nothing complex, but she should not have been able to detect any differences at her age.

He watched as the blonde girl, Ino, looked to the tree, but he also heard her tell Sakura, "it looks the same to me."

"I don't like it. It feels like something is watching me." He was amazed that someone so young could detect genjutsu and not be from his clan, _not yet part of the clan_ , his mind supplied.

"Then let's move, you know you've been weird all day. Like when you dropped all the papers because you felt something weird. Now you are seeing things, are sure you aren't sick? Is your stomach better?" He saw Ino reach out her hand to touch Sakura's forehead, "you feel normal to me." He vaguely heard the conversation, the echo of the girl's words replaying in his head, _"felt something weird."_ It could be a coincidence, but more than likely, she had felt Sarada's arrival.

Even though the information was no longer needed, it was a good thing to note for future reference, Mikoto and he had felt nothing, but the girl's mother had. Would the girl's father had felt something too? He didn't even notice that the girls had left his line or sight, so absorbed was he in his thoughts. His mind was buzzing with the possibilities of Sakura feeling her daughter travel through time that he was non-the wiser at someone approaching. "Forgive me Uchiha-san, but you are scaring the children."

Fugaku almost jumped at the voice, he recognized the man as Iruka, "yes, forgive my intrusion." Fugaku than noticed that he had inadvertently taken down his own genjutsu, regardless, a chunnin would have seen through it. He then noticed, that Iruka was waiting for more. When Fugaku provided no more words it was Iruka who prompted.

"May I ask what brings the chief of police to stare at the children playing at the academy." It was worded purposefully, and Fugaku understood that the reason why the police had not been called was simple recognition of who he is.

"I came for Sasuke, it is a surprise for him." He could hear his wife laughing at his obvious lie, but not many could tell when he was lying, Iruka was none the wiser and seemed content with Fugaku's response.

"Well normally we would not allow a parent to present themselves like _this_ ," he gave the tree a pointed look," but it is so rare for the chief of police to have the time. We might be able to overlook this if you wouldn't mind giving a small presentation about your job in the near future. While you consider this, I'll go fetch Sasuke for you, no doubt he'll be excited to leave early with his father."

Fugaku eye's widened slightly at Iruka's words, _leave with Sasuke,_ yes, he was supposed to pick him up, but not so early, the boy had only been here for little more than two hours! "Well I will have to schedule it in, but I do not see why it cannot be arranged."

"Of course. You are in a hurry, I will get Sasuke for you, do not worry about the paperwork, I will sign you out."

"That is kind of you." Mikoto was going to kill him, not only had pulled Sasuke out of the academy early, but he had traumatized children. Fugaku's mind was buzzing with a possible excuse that may work on Mikoto when Iruka arrived with Sasuke in tow, he watched as Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise

"Well, I'll let you two go now." Iruka walked away, with a pleased smile on his face. Fugaku was no fool, Iruka had known that he was spying on the children. No doubt believing him to be watching over Sasuke's training, still he had no reason, nor would he suspect that he came to spy on a girl with pink hair and green eyes. Iruka had gotten what more than he could have hoped, and Fugaku was not entirely sure if he was imagining the way Iruka was walking away. Was it possible to walk smugly? If so, he was certain that Iruka was doing so now.

With Iruka now gone, Sasuke looked to his father, "I knew mom must have felt it too!"

It took him a second to connect the dots of what Sasuke meant. Once he did his mind went to his wife. Mikoto had been adamant that she felt nothing out of the ordinary, still he played along, "yes, your mother mentioned it, she told me that you have more information. Which is why I am here, to investigate."

There was a happy gleam in Sasuke's eyes as he informed his father, "well we were on our way to the doctor's office, we were by that dango shop Itachi always goes too. When I felt weird, like something was pulling and twisting my stomach toward the forest."

The Yamanaka girl had mentioned that Sakura's stomach had hurt or felt weird (you could never know with kids), regardless she had expressed concern for Sakura's wellbeing. Mikoto and himself had felt nothing amiss, but Sarada's mother had, and now Sasuke claimed he had as well. If Sasuke could direct him in the general direction he had felt the pull, it was likely that his search for the missing scroll would go faster. "I'll let you lead, take me to where you felt the pull." Sasuke nodded, face serious, he almost felt bad at the realization that there was no way Sasuke would not be grounded by his mother.

 _Sasuke is Sarada's father._ His gut had told him so even when his head told him that Itachi as the future clan head would be the only one of his sons to have access to the scroll. He watched as Sasuke took the lead. Determination etched on his face, he couldn't help the pride that filled his chest to the brim. It almost made him forget how angry he was at the adult version of Sasuke out there, _the seven-year-old is more mature. Who knew?_

"My mom acted like nothing happened, so I knew I had to pretend nothing happened."

"Well of course, your mom did not want to raise suspicion, or scare those around her." Sasuke nodded as if that made perfect sense, which to him it did. "Sasuke, when I arrived at the academy I noticed a girl with pink hair."

"That's Sakura. I heard her friend say she wasn't feeling good earlier. That her stomach hurt, but Sakura says she's fine."

"Are you friends with her?"

Sasuke looked aghast at being asked such a question, "I have to be strong like Itachi, I don't have time for a girlfriend."

Deciding not to focus on how Sasuke himself placed the girl in the category of "girlfriend," he shifted the attention slightly. "Itachi has a girlfriend, and he is still strong." There was disbelief that was impossible for anyone to miss, Fugaku wondered if that was the face that Sasuke would make if he discovered that his future daughter was in their home now. "Itachi does not know we know, so this is our secret." Sasuke nodded, amazement in his eyes at the forbidden knowledge. "So, you like this," he paused pretending to forget her name," Sakura?"

"She is nice, but she hangs out with Ino. I don't like Ino." Sasuke was now looking at him suspiciously, "why do you care so much about Sakura?"

"I just saw her playing and her hair caught my eye." It was not a complete lie, Mikoto and himself were under the assumption that Sakura was the only possible mother of Sarada based on Sarada's description of her mother having pink hair. Thus, his interest was initially only for her hair, however if the pink hair was not enough to convince him of a possible mother-daughter relationship between the two girls, Sakura's features were. While Mikoto and he had looked at Sarada in wonder seeing their sons and each other in Sarada's features, they had declared her as completely Uchiha. The small glimpse he managed of Sakura, convinced him otherwise. It was impossible, he decided, how much Uchiha the girl had in her features, yet how little of it she possessed.

"She has pretty eyes too." There was a light dusting of red on Sasuke's cheeks at his admission, one Fugaku had no doubt Sasuke never allowed himself to admit out loud. Fugaku pretended he heard nothing, he wasn't sure if that was meant for his ears. Still he wondered if his son harbored a crush already, and while the signs pointed to yes with hints of denial, he would not deny the giddy satisfaction he felt at the thought of his son's first love being the one for him.

The rest of their walk was a silent affair, with Fugaku's dread slowly giving him anxiety, Mikoto would not be happy to have Sasuke leave the academy early. His cold had already made him miss two days, and now he had dragged Sasuke out of the academy to hide his own curiosity. It was no wonder his granddaughter had found herself in the past, with the type of father he was turning out to be, how could he ever raise a responsible adult?

When they arrived to their destination Sasuke was the one to break the silence. "I was standing right here, when I felt it. It felt like it was pulling me that way," his left hand lifted towards what Fugaku knew eventually led to a wooded area.

"What was your mother doing while this happened?" It was strange that Mikoto would not have informed him of Sasuke's sudden distraction. This was after all something he questioned her about enough to irritate her.

"She ran into someone she knew and was talking to them. But I knew mom must have felt it too and was pretending." Fugaku saw pride in Sasuke's eyes that was no doubt directed towards Mikoto, it was unearned, though, he was not about to burst the bubble.

"You felt it pulling you in that direction?"

"Yes." He was ecstatic with Sasuke's confidence, this really helped narrow down the search. He had a direct link to where Sarada had first shown up. Already he and Mikoto had narrowed it down, but Sasuke was a savior. Without him he likely would have spent all night looking. In Fugaku's mind he had already created a general path Sarada would have walked. "I don't want you to get too excited, but now we have a mission." He had never seen Sasuke look so excited in his life, this sort of excitement was usually saved for activities he had with Itachi, and even then, this went beyond that. He watched as Sasuke tried and failed to nod nonchalantly. Bending down to Sasuke's level, as quietly as he could he informed him, "we are looking for a scroll, something someone dropped or hid."

Posture straight, tone serious, eyes alight with joy, Sasuke asked, "what does it look like?"

"Wait, I am not done. There might not be a scroll at all there." Immediately disappointment replaced excitement.

"Then what's the point of looking?"

"Well we need to make sure, just like any ninja, we must make sure before taking action. Think of this as your first mission. A mission more important than any your brother has ever taken."

"Is it really _that_ important?" The awe was hard to miss.

"Would I ever lie?" Fugaku told himself that withholding information was completely different, though his sons better never try that on him. His answer seemed to bring back Sasuke's excitement once more at full force.

While Fugaku searched for the scroll, Mikoto wondered what to make for dinner. She had promised Sasuke to make his favorite, but how long would she have to wait to have her granddaughter visit her once she left to her own time? At least one whole decade, and that was if her sons weren't as inept at flirting as their father. _Though if Sasuke is Sarada's father, I can wait more than ten years, he would only be seventeen._

It was in the middle of debating who was worthy of more spoiling that she heard the door open. "I am home."

"Itachi, I wasn't expecting you until at least Sasuke was out of the academy." She tried to remain calm, but there was a strange quiver in her voice that was impossible to miss. She cursed herself and Itachi. Fugaku and herself had yet to decide what they would tell the boys about Sarada. They meant to discuss it, but honestly who could keep their head on straight under the circumstances?

Entering the kitchen Itachi looked at her wearily, "is there something wrong mother?"

Thinking fast, "nothing dear, you were gone for two days, go take a shower and rest up. Just try not to make too much noise, we have a guest napping in Sasuke's room."

"Is the guest the reason why you are acting so strange?"

She should have known Itachi would figure it with just that. "I am not acting strange."

"Mother there are dishes still on the sink, you have yet to start dinner, by now you are usually chopping something or boiling something." He waited for his mother to deny the truth of his words. "Would you like me to hunt down father?"

"Why would your father know if there was anything wrong? He is at work, dear. Maybe you are the one being strange, have you considered that?" His deadpan expression was answer enough, he was too much like his father, much too serious. "Fine, he does know what is going, but the less you know, the better. For now, it's under need to know basis."

"So, basically when father gets home, he will decide how much to tell me and you wash your hands clean of the matter."

"Exactly. Thank you for being so understanding. Now go take a shower, rest up a bit while I decide on dinner."

"You haven't even decided?"

"Itachi, just go rest okay? You look exhausted." She hated to plead with her own son, but she could not be angry over his concern. Then she was struck with a sudden idea, ", before you go, one quick question." Itachi's confusion was evident by the frown on his face, yet he looked ready to answer anything. "How many people do you know with pink hair?"

If her question confused him further, he did not show it. "Only a girl in Sasuke's class and her father. The Haruno's I believe their name is, the man and his wife are civilians."

It was Mikoto's turn to be confused, "you know quite a bit about them."

"Haruno-san is a merchant, as a genin I once had to escort him to Suna, and one does not simply forget a man with that hair, and that horrible sense of humor. As for his daughter I've only seen her when I've picked up Sasuke at the academy."

"Would you say she is cute?"

"Mother she is seven, all seven-year olds are considered "cute" just based on their age."

"I guess that is true." She turned her back to Itachi, finally deciding what to make for dinner, deep in her thoughts, trying to discern if anything he had said could be linked to Itachi one day marrying the pink haired girl. Sure, Itachi had a girlfriend now, but even she had a few boyfriends before meeting Fugaku. Still going over his words did not reveal anything no matter how she tried to twist them.

Itachi however remained, watching his mother move around the kitchen, trying to guess what could have possibly, caused that conversation. Making a show of it to get his mother's attention he announced, "well, I am going to take a shower and rest."

Without turning to look at him, she said "just don't make too much noise." Itachi walked away then slightly disappointed at how little attention she gave his little show. His mother was being strange, but there was no sense in waiting around for an answer, she was leaving the responsibility up to his father. Besides, if it was something that bad, his mother would be a mess, not the kitchen, or both would be. The kitchen was just not as clean as his mother usually kept it, it was not an explosion of chaos, so whatever it was, it was just disconcerting.

Itachi decided to listen to his mother, his mission had been easy but tiring nonetheless. After his shower he laid in his bed, at first he went through his conversation with his mother all over again. He told himself it was fine, that it really couldn't be _that_ bad. Whatever was going on was just simply enough to rattle his mother a little. This thought was enough to lull him to sleep, in the back of his mind knowing he should take advantage that Sasuke was at the academy. This would give him a few hours to sleep before Sasuke would come barging in asking for attention.

There was something pulling him awake, it felt soft and familiar, and it alone would have been enough to wake Itachi from his deep sleep. Instead, what finally pulled him was a poke to his cheek, when he opened his eyes to ask Sasuke to stop he was only able to say, "Sasuke," before he realized that the one whose finger was ready to poke his cheek again was not his brother, it was a girl younger than Sasuke. She was staring at him still, her hand still up, "you are the guest I presume?" She poked his cheek once more, this time smiling and nodding.

"Mikoto-san asked me to wake you up, she says you just got back from a mission. That is so cool! My papa always does long missions away from the village, do you know him?"

He looked at her features for a second trying to discern if he had in fact met the girl's father. A slightly larger than normal sized forehead that tugged at his memory was the first thing he noticed. Her hair and eyes were _definitely_ Uchiha, besides the basics of an Uchiha there was something else that seemed familiar to him. He had never seen the girl around the compound, yet everything about her seemed recognizable, even her chakra. As the last remnants of sleep left him, he realized that to his utter astonishment he did in fact know the girl's father, "MOTHER!"

"My mama says we shouldn't yell." There was a familiar scowl on her face, that was further accentuated by her hand on her hip. It was like seeing a pre academy Sasuke all over again, though the hand on her hip reminded him more of his mother.

"MOTHER!"

* * *

 **A/N:** _hopefully this is the last edit for this chapter. I mentioned that I really wanted to update before a certain date on the last author's note for this chapter. I also mentioned how it made me miss a lot of errors. At the end my rush made me ignore my original wishes for this chapter. This chapter was always intended to include Itachi figuring out Sarada's identity, its just at the time I did not know how to do it in a natural way, and when I started working on chapter 3 I realized that starting it with him figuring it out was giving me a slight block because I had this idea that by chapter 3 Itachi would know. I also finally fixed most if not all the mistakes because I finally had time to do it. All the errors had been giving me slight anxiety._

 _As always thanks for reading, especially those that actually read the first time chapter 2 was published and still followed and favorited the story. I'm going to be honest, I probably wouldn't have._

 _I do not have any update ready for Timely, or Unexpected at the moment for before the New Years but I am hoping to post something new in Beginnings._

 _and yes, Izumi is Itachi's girlfriend on this._


	4. Chapter 3

Itachi was about to yell for his mother once more when Mikoto appeared at his door, he would have laughed at her weapon of choice, a spoon, if the situation had been any less dire. As it was, he was too shocked to function, his brain did not feel capable of forming a complete sentence, let alone the ability to appreciate the humorous situation.

"Oh." Was all she said, full of realization, and surprise her stance relaxed upon noticing and connecting the dots. Approaching the girl, and ignoring him, she said, "honey go play a bit, I need to talk to my son about yelling."

"I hope you do, it is very rude, and ninjas should know to be quiet. My papa says that it is very important." She walked away, a smugness in her step that reminded too much of his little brother.

Mikoto did not seem in a hurry to explain what had just occurred, instead she watched as Sarada walked away her back to him, "she is so serious, I love it!"

Glaring at her back he waited for her to answer his unasked questions, she remained unaware or purposefully ignoring him. Or so he thought, Itachi watched as his mother fixed her posture, from relaxed to ready to attack, back straight and tense. "We will talk in your father's study, that girl has snuck on me twice since she woke up from her nap. I'll rather not risk her overhearing."

He followed closely behind his mother, he could hear the girl playing in Sasuke's room, oblivious to the discussion they were about to have about her. When they arrived at his father's the first thing he noticed was the clock by his father's desk, it read five in the afternoon. He had slept for far longer than he had anticipated or planned to, this then led to another thought, "where is Sasuke?"

"He is with your father, they shouldn't be too long." She sat at his father chair, hesitant to speak. Itachi recognized this tactic as way for her to reveal aspects he had understood, and no more. His mother wanted to limit how much he knew.

"I am assuming father knows that the girl, is his granddaughter."

"Yes."

"May I ask how Sasuke's future daughter found herself in the past?"

"Why are you so certain that Sasuke is the father?" Itachi simply raised an eyebrow daring her to question him further.

Instead of answering her question, he asked, "how are you not?"

"Don't sass me! I am still your mother." Then more quietly noting the barely noticeable blush on Itachi's face asked once more, "but really how are you so sure?"

This made the red on his face more prominent, he looked like a tomato Mikoto noted. He was still reluctant to answer, but one raised eyebrow from her broke his silence, "she looks like Sasuke, and nothing like Izumi." Mikoto almost felt guilty for forcing him to answer with how embarrassed the admission made him. Scowling at his mother for making him admit how deeply he cared for Izumi, he figured it was his turn to get his question answered, "how is she here?"

"A family secret, that will not be secret long by the looks of it. She found a scroll that your brother- " she interrupted herself, with Itachi's words hitting her full force, "she _is_ Sasuke's daughter! Do you think she will like tomatoes? I made all of Sasuke's favorites today, but you know what? He doesn't deserve them. How irresponsible of him letting his daughter end up in the past, I should just throw the food away, that will teach him. You know what," she added more to herself than to anybody, "I will give the food to Shisui, you should go get him."

"Mother, I understand your need to punish Sasuke but punishing him for something that he has yet to do, seems cruel. Also, _please_ focus on my question." He would get on his knees and beg for answers at this point if that was what it took.

"Yes, of course. Well your _brother,_ " he couldn't help but flinch slightly at the way she said brother, he pitied Sasuke, but part of him was in agreement with his mother's rage, "that irresponsible, you know what? I don't even have the words to describe him, he let a time travel scroll in his study, well of course Sarada found it! Dangerous scrolls like that in the house, I raised you both better than that! If I ever meet your kids before they are born, the gods better help you Itachi, because your father will not be enough to hold me back. _Do you understand?"_

With every fiber of his being Itachi believed his mother, just like he knew the sky is blue, he knew his mother was not giving out an empty threat. "When I returned from taking your brother to the academy I found her she looked terrified and confused. She was looking for her mama."

"How did you know she is your granddaughter?"

"The scroll in her possession, it belongs to our clan." She began to explain, all the anger once there now gone, "the clan head, in this case your father, is responsible for its safe keeping. Not many know of its existence, only your father and I know of it. My knowledge of it is a precaution in case something was to happen to your father. That's why we were not so sure who her father was, since you will be the clan head it makes sense that you would have the scroll in your possession."

"How do we send her back?"

"The scroll is only one of two. The one Sarada had is to send someone back in time, the other one, is to send someone back to their original time. From what your father has told me the scrolls are linked, unfortunately since they have rarely been used there is little we know of that bond, or how each individual scroll works. Regardless, without the second scroll we cannot send her back, we have no method."

"Maybe she dropped the second scroll? I will go look, just tell me where you found her." He was walking away already, no doubt getting ready for his self-assigned mission.

"There is no need for you to go, your father and brother are already looking for it. He sent me crow while you slept, letting me know he has Sasuke with him and has _had_ Sasuke with him for some time." She let her gaze wander to Fugaku's desk where he could see a paper with his father handwriting.

Itachi noted the slight frustration in her tone at the end, "does Sasuke know?"

"He just knows he is looking for something important with his father, but your father took him out of the academy right after recess! Can you believe it? Your brother has missed so much because of his cold and now this? It's no wonder Sasuke grows up to be so irresponsible."

Itachi nodded in agreement afraid of her anger being directed at him, "what can I do to help?"

"There really isn't anything we can do except care for Sarada until we can take care back home, with or without the second scroll." His mother's voice may have carried conviction, but he didn't miss how she clasped her hands together. Itachi for his part was calm on the outside, on the inside he was cursing Sasuke to hell and back. "She doesn't know she found herself in the past, she has yet to recognize us at least." He nodded in understanding, "your father and I had agreed to keep both you and Sasuke in the dark, at least on her name. Though I will admit keeping her name hidden was as far as that discussion went. However, I was not counting on you figuring it out within seconds of seeing her, that said when your brother gets here, do not tell him Sarada's name."

"The less he knows the less likely he is to change the past, or the future." Itachi finished her thought.

"I keep considering the possibility of Sarada being here, as something that is meant to be, that this has already happened." Mikoto sighed, her concern and hope evident, "it makes me believe that she will find her way back to her time, her parents must be worried sick right now." Suddenly they heard suspiciously loud footsteps, no doubt announcing and warning she was on her way. Thus they were unsurprised when Sarada knocked on the door. "Come in."

"Mikoto-san, I know you said we would eat dinner when Fugaku-san got home, but I am getting really hungry." Almost as if on cue they heard her stomach growl.

"We will give Fugaku five more minutes is that okay?" Sarada nodded, before she left back to Sasuke's bedroom she scowled in his direction. Mikoto laughed as soon as Sarada was out of earshot, "I think that was your warning to not yell anymore."

Ignoring his mother's laughter, he announced, "if you'll excuse me, I am going to go meet my niece." He turned around once he recalled the grand entrance his mother made in his room, "do not forget to wash the spoon." Then he took his exit, but not before noting the slight blush on his mother's face, he wondered if he too took prideful steps like his brother and niece did.

To his surprise Sarada was not playing with Sasuke's toys, instead she was looking through Sasuke's bookshelf. "Hello, do you want any help?"

"Not from you," she announced, "you can't be a good ninja if you have to scream for your mama." Itachi almost choked on his own spit at her words.

"Do you not like me?"

"I only like strong ninja, like my papa. He isn't as strong as mama though, she broke the house one day, it just fell to the ground! My papa says his brother was really strong too, but I can't imagine anyone being stronger than my mama." Sarada didn't bother to even spare him a glance, he was too offended at first to properly process her words. Once he did, the echo would not stop repeating, _"was really strong."_

Itachi was not sure how he wound up sitting on Sasuke's bed gripping the blankets so tightly, he just knew that it took him more than a few seconds to compose himself. As he loosened his grip, he decided that as much as he wanted to know more, he did not _need_ to know more. "Well I am a pretty strong ninja you know. Every so often," he lowered his voice, as if to tell her a secret, this he knew from experience was the best way to grab a child's attention. "We all need someone to make sense of our world."

Sarada did look at him then, it was her turn to study him. "You know, you kind of sound like my papa, and you kind of look like him." Sarada approached him then, put both her hands on his face and began turning his face left, then right, up, and then down. Eyebrows scrunched up in concentration, Itachi could not help but be reminded of a medic doing an examination. "Your eyes are like papa's too!" She seemed to be approving him based on the similarities between he and her papa, her excitement was evident by how wide her eyes were. Making him face her directly now, she added, "though papa has a purple eye."

She abruptly let go of his face and went to look at the books again, unaware of the ice-cold water she just threw at him without a care in the world. This also served as a realization, a ghost of a memory, a conversation he had heard between his parents' years prior. He remembered how strange it was for his parents to argue about a purple eye.

Itachi replayed what he could recall of that day, Sasuke was younger than Sarada was now, just a toddler, but old enough to eat messily by himself. In fact, it is why he had been there for the conversation, his mother had asked him to clean up Sasuke's mess while she tended to his father. Itachi remembered how his mother attended to his father with extra care that evening, she was fussing over him as she often did to her sons, which was strange in itself.

From his peripheral he watched as Sarada dropped a book from the shelf, this triggered another memory, one in which his mother dropped a scroll by his father's feet. This, he realized is where the conversation turned into that of a fairytale, at least to him. He rubbed his temple hoping the memory would become more concrete, desperate, because he knew something in this memory was important. Itachi wasn't sure what was hidden in his memory, he just knew it was a lead to something.

Itachi's thoughts were interrupted when Sarada who was now laying on her stomach looking through a book asked, "do you think Mikoto-san will notice if I try to sneak some food away?"

"Yes." Her disappointment was evident by slight slouch to her shoulders. "However," he quickly added afraid of her disliking him once more, "my father should be home soon."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved her hand dismissively at him, "but I am hungry now!" Her eyes widened in sudden realization, standing up she bowed to him and said, "I'm sorry for being rude."

"It's okay, you are right to be frustrated, I saw what time it was. Family dinners are rare here, I am often out doing a mission, or training. Father is sometimes late from work as well, usually it just my brother and mother for dinner."

"My papa has to go on missions a lot, and my mama gets called to the hospital a lot. "Itachi knew this was her way of telling she understood the circumstances, she knew the importance of family. "I sometimes have dinner with grandma Tsunade when my mama can't be home, though papa doesn't like when she watches me. He says she taught me how to gamble, and that it's not okay, but playing with cards is so much fun I always win so much candy!"

Hiding his shock at the grandma Tsunade, because really Senju Tsunade could not be the only woman with that name and an affinity for gambling, he pressed on, "really now?"

She nodded an enthusiastic yes, "and grandpa always buys me candy, and sweets, mama doesn't like it. She says my teeth are gonna fall off but look my teeth are _very_ strong!" She grinned and tapped her teeth then, he only nodded and pretended to be an awe of such strong teeth. "My grandma always buys me pretty dresses. My papa says there is no way I will ever get to wear them all since I grow so fast!"

He was amazed at how quickly Sarada went from considering him beneath her, and unworthy of her attention to telling him about her life. "So even though we don't always get to have dinner together it's fun!" Itachi realized what Sarada was doing, in her own childish way she was trying to comfort him. To let him know things work out, he hadn't expressed any particularly negative emotion, but she had sensed it.

"You are very wise for your age, has anyone told you that?"

"Uncle Kakashi did, when I opened a locked drawer in his desk."

"That seems more sneaky than wise."

Sarada ignored him and continued her story, "mama wasn't happy though," she stood up then. Hand on her hip, pointer finger out and wagging, in what he assumed was an impersonation of her mother, she said, "Sarada-chan, you can't do that, Hokage-sama has important papers in his desk."

"Your mother is right to say that, you shouldn't be looking at things in the Hokage's desk," _especially Kakashi-senpai's_ he mentally added." He watched as her eyes widened in horror, her hands covering her mouth. Before he had the chance to ask what was wrong, she surprised him once more.

"I lost the game!" He could feel his panic be replaced by slight frustration towards his brother, of course he would have such a dramatic daughter. "Mikoto-san and Fugaku-san and I were playing a game, I wasn't supposed to tell you my name!"

"Oh." He quickly found a solution to her problem, "we just don't tell them, this could be our secret." He expected her to be relieved, or happy, instead she looked affronted.

"That's lying! That's rude, and cheating. You aren't very nice, are you?" The glare she directed would have been terrifying if not for her age, "I don't cheat, I am going to tell Mikoto-san _everything."_ The way she placed an emphasis on everything, left no room for doubt, his niece was going to tattle on him. She left the room in a rush, almost as if she expected Itachi to try to stop her. In the few seconds where he considered if he should indeed follow her, he realized that he was not leaving a very good impression on his niece.

As he gave in and decided that following Sarada was the right course of action, he wondered if his niece's strong dislike of him was some sort of retribution for Sasuke's strong attachment to him. He knew the thought was ridiculous, but he really couldn't imagine a world where Sasuke's child disliking him even a little was a possibility. When he arrived at the kitchen he only heard the end of the conversation, "he wanted me to lie!" It sounded so conspirational that he would have laughed, if not for the sight of his mother reminding him of much more pressing matters.

"Sarada," he said leaning down to be eye level with her, "I am sorry. I thought I was doing you a favor by saying we should lie. That is not okay it was rather dumb of me."

"That was really dumb of you." Sarada agreed too readily for his liking. Mikoto however was enjoying this, Itachi could see from his peripheral vision the way his mother covered her mouth with her hand, but her shaking shoulders were a giveaway, she was finding it impossible to contain herself.

"Sarada, if you would let me privately apologize to my mother, I would truly appreciate it." Sarada looked to Mikoto for permission to leave, once she did she nodded to Itachi.  
"Only cause Mikoto-san said so."

When Itachi could hear Sarada's footsteps far away, he couldn't help the sigh the left his lips as he confessed, "my niece hates me."

"Honey, she doesn't hate you, she is just really proper, and she has been raised to think of special treatment like that as bad. She is a girl of her word and expects the same of others. I made a similar mistake earlier, when I offered to make Sarada her favorite food instead of Sasuke's. Her parents have raised her to be fair, and kind."

"They did too good of a job."

Mikoto could only smile in response, "now, I doubt you sent her away to simply show your displeasure openly."

"Mother, Sarada mentioned something, and it may mean nothing but it's too much of a coincidence to be ignored. She said her father has a purple eye."

He watched as his mother paled, she reached for his hand and lead him to his father's study, she made a shadow clone to watch Sarada and closed the door behind them. "Your father mentioned something similar once."

"Yes, it is a vague memory in my mind, but I remember father once mentioning a purple eye when I was younger."

"It was years ago, I was waiting for your father to get home, when he sent me a message with one of his crows. However, you are remembering incorrectly, he never recalled seeing the eye, he wrote me a message, and in it he drew the eye. He was going away for a day or two," he watched as his mother seemed to be struck by lightning, "to check on the scrolls!"

"That must have been Sarada's father, by any chance do you still have the message?"

"I got rid of it after your father and I argued about how he left so suddenly, he couldn't give me a proper reason as to why he suddenly felt the urge to check on the scrolls. I even asked him about the eye he drew, but he didn't remember drawing it, let alone seeing it."

"He probably couldn't, the sharingan itself has the ability to alter memories. It is safe to assume Sasuke found a way to go back in time searching for Sarada, father must have left the drawing of the eye as a hint. Knowing his memories would be altered." Mikoto had no response, however Itachi's mind was still going, "he might have left other hints."

They silently considered the possibilities, "we might not need the hints, your father could have the second scroll in his hands right now. However, if he doesn't we know where to start." Looking to Itachi they knew they were both hoping the same thing even though they both slowly came to the same conclusion.

"If Sarada had brought the second scroll, father would have left himself a clue about it. Maybe where to find it, or some sort of guide. He wouldn't have left a hint that leads to wherever the scrolls are now."

"When your father gets here, use your sharingan on him."

* * *

 **A/N:** _if there is any confusion there was some slight editing to the last chapter's end, so some of you may have to go back._

 _So this story is definitely going to be slightly longer than I intended, however most of the story is progressing as I wanted it too still. Most of this chapter would have occurred in less than an hour, it was mostly distracting Sarada because Fugaku is being very thorough in his search..this isn't much of a spoiler, but the next chapter Fugaku arrives home with a very dirty and exhausted Sasuke._

 _Sarada is not Itachi's biggest fan because she has only seen him be unprofessional, and I always figured that yes Sarada would absolutely adore her Uncle because in a world where Itachi lives he would spoil her rotten. However, in a world where she suddenly meets him, she is unimpressed by some of his antics, like letting her get away with cheating? Unacceptable to Sarada._

 _As always thank you guys! You guys don't know how much I appreciate each and every one of you :)_


	5. Chapter 4

Itachi and Mikoto heard the door open both still tense with the realization hoping against hope that they would be wrong. That Fugaku and Sasuke would show up with a scroll at hand, still Mikoto decided that she could hope for the best while expecting the worst, "after dinner we will talk to your father." Itachi simply nodded, though the conversation with his mother left him with at least one more question, he had no intention of bringing it up now. Whatever his mother's reasoning in choosing him to use his sharingan, he would respect. "For now, go help Sarada get ready for dinner."

The exited the room soon after, Itachi could hear the tail end of something his father was telling Sasuke, still it wasn't loud enough to distinguish any details. Not that he needed too, he knew the conversation was about Sarada. Which is where he decided to place his focus, after all Sarada had yet to forgive him for encouraging her to cheat. He meant to approach Sarada with a proper apology, instead he was surprised to find her at the doorway to Sasuke's room, "I am ready for dinner," she announced, "I already cleaned up the toys, and I washed my hands." She raised her hands ready for an inspection.

While Itachi was surprised at how amicably she had approached him, he decided to just accept her change in attitude. "Ah, yes." He nodded as he examined her hands, "very well done, come now, I know how hungry you are." He watched as Sarada skipped ahead, no doubt eating had become her number one priority and had in turn made her forget that she was angry at him.

When Itachi arrived in the dining room he found both his parents seated and the plates well served, "welcome home father. Where is Sasuke?"

Fugaku nodded before answering, "he went to wash up before dinner. Your mother has informed me that you are up to date on today's events." He gave Sarada a pointed look, yet she remained unaware, she only had eyes for the food in front of her.

Itachi sat down as he answered, "any new updates to report?" It was strange speaking to his father in such a way, but Sarada's presence, and Sasuke's imminent approach made is so they could not speak openly.

Fugaku tensed at the question, and Mikoto reached for his hand. His parents were not ones to display such affection openly, this Itachi knew meant failure on his father's part, still there was no room for unanswered questions, or vagueness under the circumstances. "Unfortunately, no." Itachi watched his mother tighten her hold on his father's hand, "however, your mother told me of some unexpected progress. I agree with your mother's assessment." _I agree to you using your sharingan on me._ Itachi never felt more aware of his age as at that moment. Skilled beyond his years, wiser than his age implies, he had never truly felt like a child, not until this very moment.

It seemed they were all too focused on their individual thoughts to pay attention to Sasuke, it was Sarada who noticed him first, "can we eat now?"

Mikoto was the one to answer, "yes, we may." Sasuke took his seat unaware of the eyes following his every movement, he had yet to acknowledge Sarada's presence and that was the source of all the eyes on him. Would a part of him recognize her? They were on the edge of their seats, some figuratively, other literally Itachi noted how his father had edged himself forward. If Mikoto was surprised at how shameless Fugaku was being, she gave nothing away.

With their seating arrangement, it left Sasuke sitting across Sarada, this had been unplanned, yet none of those seated were unhappy with the arrangement. They were curious to see father and daughter so close, anxious even, as for Sarada she sat herself down closest to the food. When Sasuke finally sat down he noticed the way his parents and brother were looking at him, "do I have something on my face?" There was a crease in his brows, and immediately reached to wipe his face.

Mikoto was the first to recover her senses, "no, it is just you have yet to say hello to our guest, it is very rude Sas-" a cough from Fugaku interrupted her, "dear." She finished, looking apologetically at Fugaku, they didn't want to scare Sarada. She may not recognize them, but there was a possibility of her recognizing Sasuke. Looking to Sarada, Mikoto continued, "but our guest has yet to say hello as well."

At this Sarada looked up from her plate, which they all noted had quite the bit less food than the others. If that had not been the giveaway that she began to eat first, the sauce on her face was, still Sarada looked to Sasuke, smiled and said, "hello."

This led their attention tenfold unto Sasuke, his eyes widened in surprise, then his eyebrows crunched up in confusion, and replied a meek "hello." Sasuke looked to Itachi, and whispered to him, "she looks like Sakura."

Without and ounce of decency, and much to Sasuke's dismay, Itachi asked, "who is Sakura?"

It was Sarada who answered, "my mama!"

Sasuke looked at Sarada as if she had just grown two heads, while simultaneously saying the dumbest thing he had ever heard. "Sakura can't be your mama! Even if you look like her."

"Well she is my mama, that's why I look like her! Though Hokage-sama says I look like my papa." She replied.

"Yeah!? And who is your papa!?"

Sarada stood on her chair as she announced, "the greatest ninja ever!"

"Well your papa can't be that great if he isn't Hokage."

Fugaku felt like he had been slapped across the face, was he being rejected? Mikoto's pitying look was not aiding him. "I'm not Hokage either." He added, hoping to end any further insults to his prided.

At this they both quieted down, still Sasuke got the last word in, "Sakura can't be your mama." Sarada only glared as she sat back down on the chair. Neither Fugaku or Mikoto bothered with saying _itadikamasu,_ Sarada had already eaten half her meal, and Sasuke kept sending glares her way.

"You know," Mikoto said carefully, aware that this comment could be considered blasphemy by both Sasuke and Sarada, "there could be more than one person named Sakura."

"My mama is the prettiest Sakura!" Sarada announced, Sasuke looked aghast, he put down his chopsticks.

"You can't say that if you haven't seen my Sakura." Mikoto choked on her drink, this led to Sasuke correcting himself, "my classmate." Even so, red still adorned his face.

"I don't need to, my mama is the prettiest of all the mama's, of all girls!" She announced proudly, though the apologetic she gave Mikoto was hard to miss. Mikoto just shrugged, of course everyone thinks their mother is the prettiest.

"I think you are the prettiest girl!" Mikoto told her.

Itachi who found the whole thing rather amusing, finally intervened, "let us not forget that beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"Coward," said Sarada in the same moment that Sasuke said "traitor." Itachi could feel himself flinch at their words, _father and daughter indeed down to the glare._

Having enough of the never-ending argument, Mikoto asked, "how was the academy today Sasuke?" Fugaku was suddenly very interested in in his food, and Itachi looked amused.

"It was fun, especially when dad was watching my shuriken practice during recess."

"He did what now!?"

"Yeah! Iruka-sensei told me dad was watching from the tree across the courtyard." Fugaku was trying to signal to Sasuke to stop talking, but the boy was too busy staring down Sarada.

Instead Fugaku's only choice was to distract, "look at your mother when she speaks to you. Straighten your back." Sasuke complied, but the damage had been done, and Fugaku felt the warning glare sent his way. Quietly so that only Mikoto would hear, he said, "I regret nothing."

"You should," was her simple reply, and damn did that send chills down his spine, and everyone else's Fugaku noted. An amazing feat to be sure, since he was certain he was the only one that heard. Dinner finished soon afterwards, what had begun as a loud affair, ended in relative silence, with Mikoto announcing that Sasuke would be sleeping in Itachi's room.

Sasuke's excitement was short lived once he realized the implication of sharing a room with Itachi, Sarada would be sleeping in his room. After the argument that Sasuke and Sarada had, Sasuke was reluctant to befriend her and it was clear Sarada felt the same. However, Sarada, unlike Sasuke, was too well mannered to voice it or display it as openly as Sasuke had.

Fugaku was quick to silence Sasuke and pointed out that Sarada had already slept in his room. Still Sasuke and Sarada managed to reach a peaceful accord when Sasuke, determined to protect his favorite belongings, went to his room to move his things, among them was a book. Immediately at the sight of it Sarada announced how her papa read the book to her, and how it was her favorite.

This ended any negative feelings they may have had towards each other, "anyone who likes Dino-chan's Adventures can't be bad." Sasuke had explained when his mother had questioned the peace, and Sarada had nodded vehemently in agreement. Once peace reigned freely Sasuke and Sarada got along perfectly, and Itachi found himself slightly jealous

Sarada had yet to fully accept him, while during dinner she had been content with him, and he himself believed he had been forgiven, every so often she gave him a distrustful glance, or a disappointed sigh. For his part Itachi had never felt so judged in his life. Before he could take a deeper dive down that rabbit-hole his father pulled him to the side telling him, "we will put them to bed, you wait in the office, take this opportunity to prepare," no doubt he too noticed the way Sarada seemed unhappy in his presence. .

At first when he arrived at his father's office his thoughts were of Sarada, of how to win her over, but as the minutes ticked by his thoughts slowly went to where they should have been. The more he thought about using his sharingan on his father the more he was tempted to run. It was one thing to use his sharingan on a stranger, to use it for the benefit of copying a jutsu, it was a different matter to use it to explore someone's mind. Even more difficult the concept of exploring someone's mind when you are close to them. One aspect he was concerned about was that sometimes there was no telling what memories would be pulled out.

He had entered a cycle, and once more Itachi reminded himself to relax. The voice in his head was quick to remind him why he was worried however, and on and on went his mind. Before he knew it, he heard his parents coming to the office, his mother was the first one through the door and apologetic look on her face, "sorry we took so long, once they discovered that they both also have a mole on the soles of their left foot we could not contain them."

"Yes, when Sarada mentioned how her papa has one too, any doubts we may have had over which one of you we should punish vanished." His father added calmly closing the door behind him. "Are you ready?"

He was hesitant to answer, "no need to worry Itachi, this should be easy, your father himself will be focusing on the time frame, so you will not have to worry about seeing something you shouldn't too much. All you have to do hopefully is open a door your father cannot."

Itachi relaxed a little at her words, still there was something bothering him, "why can't you do it?" He looked at his mother, she flushed red, from the corner of his eye he saw his father tense on the way to his seat.

"Because," she hesitated and looked to his father, "I think your brother would have made block for the memory that would need a very specific trigger, and my eyes are not it."

"I don't understand. How would you know your eyes are not it?" Itachi felt like he was missing something obvious. His mother looked to his father but when he looked to his father, his father seemed to be looking anywhere but in their direction.

She smiled at him a little strangely, "Don't think about it too much, just trust us." Itachi nodded, and he heard his father sigh, clearly it was something they would rather not explain. "we should start."

Itachi activated his sharingan and went to his father who was seated the only thing that gave away his nerves was how stiffly he was sitting. I have no control over what you might see," he warned, "I can only make finding what you seek easier." His father's words were spoken calmly, but what his father focused on did calm him down. His father trusted him, his concern was more about pride, and that's when it hit him when his mother must have used her sharingan on his father. His face must have shown his epiphany for his father, coughed and when he spoke his face was a little red, "focus."

So, he did, he looked into his father's eyes and began.

* * *

 _ **A/N :** I had to add to this chapter, the next chapter has been started, and some of the things added here were part of chapter 5 initially but, I really felt it would be better to have the next chapter completely focus on the past, though I am still working on some minor details of it... reason why chapter 5 is taking so long, bad planning. I mean it, I had this idea that unexpected would have like 6 chapters max, but once I sat down and properly wrote down my notes for the story (by that I mean I actually wrote notes) I realized that for what I needed to happen to get to the ending 6 chapters were not going to be enough. So... unexpected is unexpectedly longer than I ever wanted it to be... so take that as you will_

 _as always thanks for reading reviews are not mandatory, but always welcome_


	6. final part of chapter 4 sorry

The memories passed by him in a blur, some clearer than others, it was obvious which were enhanced by the sharingan even in the speed they passed him. He was glad to not have to navigate through the memories, and he was not entirely sure it was his father's doing that guided him. His parents had mentioned a trigger, as memories continued to pass him by it was clear that his eyes had been it and he knew it was more of a pull in a direction than him navigating through the memories.

While he had no doubt his father's focus kept things at bay, he was not sure it put the memory in reach. He felt a hard push on his side and suddenly the memories that had been passing him by vanished. In their stead was darkness. Itachi was uncertain as to what he was supposed to find, if his eyes were the key, then his father's mind was the room that held a secret door. Yet, something didn't feel right in that analogy.

Sasuke was protecting more than just Sarada, he was protecting the future he knew. His father's mind no matter how protected could be unlocked, jutsus that affect the mind tend to weaken after some time. The darkness he was currently in, was still very strong, and if he had not been pushed into this darkness. It would have registered in his mind as a memory of closed eyes, of trying to sleep, of childhood when darkness always seemed much darker than black. He would have passed it without a second glance.

 _Second glance, it's like a puzzle._

If Itachi is the key, his father the room with the hidden door, Sarada had been the map. She was the one that sent them to look back, a second glance at the memories. Getting to this darkness had taken more than one member of his family, the only one left to contribute was his mother.

Her eyes were not a trigger for the memory, that was certain, _but how did his mother get involved here?_

"The message." He said in realization, the message his father sent his mother is her puzzle piece. Part of him wished he could pace just to rid himself of his newly acquired nervous energy. What good is a puzzle piece when you do not know what it looks like? Or in this case the contents. _How could Sasuke expect the message to still be around? How could he be so idiotic as to rely on something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things?_

As soon as those thoughts entered his mind he realized how wrong he himself is. _No, he is a genius._ Sasuke had known Sarada well enough to know she would let slip the "purple eye," he had relied on that. He had also counted on his mother hearing about it and recalling the letter. Sasuke had also understood that leaving the key to be his mother's eyes would be too dangerous. Itachi ignored the part of his brained that summoned an image of his innocent little brother knowing the why. _So why would the message be important?_

 _It's not the content that's important it is the message itself., It's the keyhole!_ He felt himself smiling at the realization, which meant it was the memory of his father writing the message that was important. His mother had said that his father did not remember drawing the eye, but that did not mean his memory of the rest of the message was altered and locked away.

This left him with one question, why was he pushed towards this darkness? Was it to be given a moment to stop and think? That seemed unlikely, _"when you are in someone's mind with your eyes, you are a spectator,"_ Shisui had explained to him so long ago. _"They will know you are there only after and if you let them, unless you actively take part in the mind. Even so,"_ he had added, _"it is the subconscious mind that figures it out, the conscious mind can still be fooled."_

 _"What do you mean?"_ He had asked, these were questions meant for parents, but he tended to prefer Shisui's explanations, his father was too technical, and his mother always said he was too young.

 _"I mean releasing chakra and letting yourself known to the mind."_ He had rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

 _"But you are not really in the person's mind, how do you release chakra there?"_

Shisui sighed dramatically, _"my dear cute little cousin, our eyes are weapon of genjutsu, so you cast a little genjutsu,"_ he finished pointing at his own eyes.

Shisui had been right to seem exasperated by his ignorance, in hindsight it was obvious. Itachi understood what he had to do, he had to cast a genjutsu. The darkness was an added security measure, eyes can be taken, he knew this, as an Uchiha it was ingrained in his mind, but chakra could not be replicated. It could be similar, but never the same.

A small little genjutsu is all he would need to cast and so he did. He watched a leaf fall by his feet. Suddenly web like multicolored lights appeared and spread around him. He noted the color of the lights, blue, red, white, purple and pink all spreading in different directions. Itachi knew he had to follow one of the paths before him, but how to pick?

Purple would be the obvious choice, he noted. He sought the memory of the message with the purple eye after all, yet Sasuke did not seem the type to repeat himself. The purple eye was already a big puzzle piece as it was. Itachi looked around him to examine the paths formed in front of him. If he looked closely enough, he could see that the red and white seemed to always be near each other. Following those seemed obvious for the Uchiha crest, but would it be that obvious? Unlikely, but it could be so obvious for it be overlooked.

He looked to the blue path, and the only link for the color he could find within his family was that with the right lighting Sasuke's hair appeared to have blue in it. Maybe that was the puzzle piece that related to his brother? Itachi could admit it was wildly amusing how he had involved the whole family to protect the memory, and genius. _The whole family._ Was Sasuke not involved in this "game" already? Blue was not it; he knew then. He may be uncertain of the other paths but he was certain of this.

Next to the blue path the pink one seemed to run parallel of it. Itachi wondered what connection there was to his family for about a second before realizing that the path was not just any shade of pink, but the same as cherry blossoms. _Sakura._

That was the path, he knew it, felt it even, just as he was positive the blue path was not it, he knew to follow the cherry blossomed colored path. Itachi began his journey, wondering how much time had passed, he knew that it could have been seconds, out in the real world. In this darkness where the only colors he could see was the pink he followed and the blue that seemed to be parallel, it felt like hours had passed. Eventually the blue path seemed to make a turn, and after some time it vanished completely from his sight.

It was a slow trek after that, to the point that some of his earlier confidence began to fade, he paused for a second and reconsidered where he stood. Had he read the puzzle accurately? Maybe he was giving his brother too much credit, after all his brother had left a time travel scroll at home where Sarada could get it. Still he decided to keep walking, and followed the pink path, when he began to notice that the ground beneath him felt different. Though calling it ground was not right to begin with, walking through his father's mind had felt solid, it had felt no different than walking in his home. Yet now it felt like he was stepping in something not quite solid and not quite liquid.

He paused once more, when he looked down, he noticed a crack appearing beneath his feet. The crack began to spread quickly and as he made to run away the ground beneath his feet vanished and he began to fall. _"A very important thing to remember,"_ Shisui's voice rang in his memory, so clear Itachi was almost tempted to look beside him, _"when exiting the mind, close your eyes, makes the transition easier."_

He closed his eyes expecting that when he opened them he would be standing in his father's study. Instead when he did, he discovered he was no longer falling, but in the village. He looked behind him to find his father writing on a scroll, the memory seemed right, but once he approached to have a closer look, he noticed the absence of the drawing of the eye. _The note is the key,_ he reminded himself as he reached for the letter.

Itachi had expected many things from his contact with the note, but his hand going through it, was not one of them. Still his senses were on high alert, and he noticed how the world around him stood still. He also felt the cold sensation of a genjutsu being removed, he had never felt the cold with such a ferocity and resisted the urge to shiver. The memory was now free, the man in black was proof enough, _Sasuke._

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _so this is actually going to be combined with chapter 4, i know I suck, but in my defense I am terrible at planning and tend to let the story guide me and this is what that story wanted... anyway I will leave this up like this for about a week then combine the chapter, again I really wanted to start with the past for chapter 5 but poor planning on my part has kicked my glutes. Regardless the actual timeline of the story is done and no other chapter should work out like this._


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